“A Man's Man's Man's World” Music, Misery and Masculinity in the Work

“A Man’s Man’s Man’s World” Music, Misery and Masculinity in the Work of Nick Hornby Lisa Walraven Student Number: 1271555 Master Thesis Media Studies: Cultural Analysis Supervisor: Frans Willem Korsten Second Reader: Liesbeth Minnaard Universiteit Leiden December 2018 Walraven 1 Table of Contents Introduction 2 Chapter One: The Changes in Masculinity 3 Chapter Two: Saving Masculinity by Swapping Real Capital for Cultural Capital 9 Chapter Three: Saving Masculinity by Fabricating Female Support 29 Chapter Four: The Fear of Change and the Play with Focalisation 46 Works Cited 48 Walraven 2 Introduction Masculinity is one of the most important topics in modern public debate. The third and fourth waves of feminism, which were both focused on diversity and individualism and have brought about many changes, have led to various debates about what it means to be a real man. In the current era of MeToo, the Men’s rights movement and the popularity of ‘strongman leaders’ such as Jair Bolsonaro, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, the topic of masculinity is more relevant than ever. Opinions about who is and who is not a real man vary enormously. Some people support the traditional ideal of a man who is the breadwinner of the family, always stays strong and firmly distances himself from any behaviour or interests that are generally considered feminine. Others claim that a real man is a man who can openly display his emotions, admit his vulnerabilities and does not worry about the distinction between masculine and feminine behaviour. The subject of masculinity also plays an important role in the fiction of British author Nick Hornby. Many of his novels feature male characters in their thirties, who have a hard time figuring out what it means to be a man in the late twentieth and early twenty first century. Their ideas about manliness usually have an impact on their relationships with women. They expect certain things of themselves and their partners and they tend to let their relationships turn sour when these expectations do not get realised. In this thesis I would like to analyse some of the changes in masculinity and the impact these changes have had on both men and women, with two of Hornby’s novels as my case studies. The novels that I have chosen were published fourteen years apart and illustrate how masculinity has changed in those years. As a feminist, I believe this change is a positive thing, but Hornby’s work gives a much more negative view and appears to promote a return to the old ideals of masculinity. The first novel I will analyse is Hornby’s debut novel High Fidelity, published in 1995. It tells the story of Rob Fleming, a thirty-five year old, disgruntled record store owner who tracks down his former girlfriends in an attempt to find out why his latest partner, Laura, has left him for another man. The second novel, Juliet, Naked, was published in 2009. Its two protagonists, Duncan Thompson and Annie Platt, find their romantic relationship changed by the rerelease of a famous album by Duncan’s Walraven 3 favourite musician Tucker Crowe, an elusive singer-songwriter from the eighties. In my analysis of these two novels, I will explain Rob and Duncan’s opinions about masculinity. I will also look at their partner’s views on the subject. Laura and Annie’s different definitions of masculinity influence both their feelings for Rob and Duncan and their ideas about what kind of girlfriend or wife they want to be themselves. In the first chapter of this thesis, I will explain the different ways in which masculinity has changed in recent years. Many of these changes are related to the capital a man should possess, not just his financial capital, but other sorts as well. French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu has written a famous essay about the different forms of capital. I will give a brief explanation of his theory and the relation between the forms of capital and masculinity. In the second chapter I will analyse the views of High Fidelity’s Rob and his girlfriend Laura. Rob has a very conservative idea of masculinity, while Laura’s views are more progressive. In the third chapter I will look at the views of Juliet, Naked’s two protagonists, Duncan and Annie. They seem to be the reverse of Rob and Laura’s opinions. Duncan has a modern outlook, but Annie has a more traditional one. In my analysis of High Fidelity and Juliet, Naked, I will pay special attention to narratological elements in the two novels that have considerable manipulative force. I believe that the choices Nick Hornby has made as regards the narration and focalisation of his work contribute to the message about masculinity that these novels are sending. Chapter One: The Changes in Masculinity - The Traditional Man and the Modern Man A term that is often used in debates about manliness is the crisis of masculinity. The crisis of masculinity seems to be an identity crisis. Before this crisis, men knew how to be masculine. In a modern society shaped by feminism and LGBTQ-rights, however, some men feel that it has become more difficult for them to assert their masculinity. Unlike the existence of other modern crises, such as the financial crisis or the refugee crisis, the existence of the masculinity crisis is hotly debated. Literary scholar Aneta Stepien claims that “we need to stop talking about a masculinity crisis” while linguistics lecturer Roger Horrocks has devoted a whole book to “masculinity in crisis”. Walraven 4 Despite their disagreement on the existence of a crisis, both sides agree that the definition of masculinity is different from what it was before. Stepien acknowledges that men have to adjust to their “new gender role” and that they have to deal with a “new approach based on partnership and equality of men and women at home and in work”. Horrocks claims that “the old forms are disintegrating, while men struggle to establish new relations with women and with each other.” Whether masculinity is in crisis or not, it has gone through some important changes. The modern real man is different from the traditional one. In this chapter I will discuss a traditional image of masculinity and the ways in which it has changed. In his article “The Masculinity Crisis” editor of Psychology of Men and Masculinity Ronald F. Levant claims that “the good provider role” is “the basic pattern by which men have traditionally fulfiled the code for masculine role behaviour” (222). Being the good provider means making enough money to ensure that one’s family always has clothes, food and a roof over its head. Traditionally, this role has belonged to men. It has always been their task to get a prestigious job with a good salary, while the women were supposed to stay home and run the household. Being the good provider is one the most important parts of traditional masculinity. This means that a real man also needs a certain type of wife or girlfriend, namely a woman who can cook, clean and fulfil other tasks related to the household. She can have a job outside the house, but not one that takes time away from her work at home. Her income cannot equal or top that of her husband. Acquiring a high social status is another part of traditional masculinity. Bourdieu discusses this in Masculine Domination: “a ‘real’ man is someone who feels the need to rise to the challenge of the opportunities available to him to increase his honour by pursuing glory and distinction in the public sphere” (51). The public sphere is the realm outside the home and family life. It is the realm of work, politics and the public debate. A real man needs to acquire glory and distinction in this sphere. He can do that by getting a prestigious job or becoming a public figure. This will show that he is special, that he can achieve something that other people cannot. According to Bourdieu, a man cannot decide whether he wants to adhere to these standards of masculinity or prefers to ignore them. Being a real man is not a choice, but a duty. Bourdieu mentions Walraven 5 “the permanent tension and contention, sometimes verging on the absurd, imposed on every man by the duty to assert his manliness in all circumstances. [...] Manliness [...] is first and foremost a duty” (50-51). There is a constant pressure on all men to be the good provider and to become a distinguished figure in the public sphere. When a man does not do these things, he is not considered someone who has made a different choice, but someone who has failed at his most important duty. In recent years, some of these ideas about masculinity have changed. The belief that the man has to be the good provider has become less popular. Deborah Siegel describes this change in her article “The New Trophy Wife”. She writes about the “new trend in the mating game - marrying someone like yourself” (52). A successful man with a high income is no longer expected to marry the stereotypical trophy wife - a beautiful, young woman with more social skills than academic skills. Instead, Siegel, writes “eyebrows are raised when a guy marries a woman who doesn’t match him in education or professional status” (53). A man needs a wife who is on his level. She has to be able to provide for herself instead of relying on her husband to do it for her. Another aspect that has changed is the pressure that is put on men to assert their manliness.

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